Let’s deal with hooligans — Coach Lutterodt

Local Black Stars’ deputy coach, Dauda Lutterodt, has condemned crowd violence at some Division One League (DOL) centres in the country and called on organisers of the competition to nip the situation in the bud before it gets out of hand.

Citing the manhandling of the head coach of second-tier side, Elmina Sharks, Kobina Amissah, during their game against Proud United at the Gyandu Park in Sekondi last week, Coach Lutterodt said, “the perpetrators must be punished severely to serve as deterrent to others. Banning their clubs is not the best solution to this menace”.

Coach Lutterodt, who is also the chairman of the Greater Accra Football Coaches Union, could not understand why the culprits were allowed to go scot-free while their clubs suffered punishment.

However, he blamed club officials for their negative pronouncements which sometimes incited the fans to behave rudely against match officials and security personnel during and after matches.

He also lamented the inadequate security personnel who were deployed at the various league centres and who were usually unable to control the rampaging fans whenever disaster struck and called on the organisers of the league to adopt alternative security measures.

Amissah, who was beaten to a pulp and was later revived at the hospital, is still nursing injuries. 

It will be recalled that DOL matches involving Okwawu United and King Solomon, King Solomon versus Great Olympics and Elmina Sharks versus Proud United recently recorded crowd violence, compelling GN Bank to revoke its sponsorship of the DOL.